Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-03-03
A DELICATE OPERATION.
Philadelphia Physicians Take Pieces Of Bone
From the Brain OF a Patient.

Philadelphia Physicians Take Pieces Of Bone
From the Brain of Patient.
The Philadelphia Times of February
Ia says:
1t was settled yesterday that the bullet
fred into Mary G. Anderson's head on last
Monday night near Newbold's Corner, two
miles from Mount Heliy, is deeply i'm
bedded in der brain, At o'clock this
afternoon DIR. W. FL. Pancoast, assisted
by Dr. VIM. C. Vile, of the Medico- Chi
rurgical college of this city, in presence
of Drs. Richard E. Brown, VIM. G. Parry,
r. G. Darlington and r. III. Parsons, and
Prosecutor of Pleas Hendrickson, of
Mount Holly, and DIR. Franklin G. Gaunttt,
Of Burlington, mede a thorough explora-
tion of the wound and found that the
ball had passed through the skull an inch
and half above and a little forward of
the left ear, deaving clean-cut oval
shaped hole three-eighths of an inch
transVersely by four eighths longitude
nally. The fragments of the skull, made
by the bah Tn its passage, had been
forced into the brain, and were extracted
by DR.. Panceast after a careful prelimi-
nary examination of the wound and di-
agnosis of the case.
The operation was a delicate one, re
qGiring met only surgical skill of the
highest order, but extreme csution at
every stage. An hour was occupied in
explaining the necessity of the opera
tion TO the girls mother to obtain her
consent, and in preparations 30 insure
its success. The location Of the five
pieces of skull and their removal exhaust
ed another hour, and it took three-quar-
Gers of an hour more 81 cleanse the
wound, treat it antisetpically, and stitch
up the scalp where it had been raised to
facilitate the exploration and operation.
DR.. Panscoat was not long in discovering
that the ball had entered the brain, ana
was lodged there, for as soon as the 'clot-
ted blood was removed from the sur
face OF the wound the brain began oozin g
out.
The removal of the pieces Of skull af-
forded immediate relief TO tie patient.
She became conscious at once, and her
mind appeared clearer than at any time
since the ball entered the braia. The
operation was performed without admin
istering ether or chloroforn1, and the girl
stood 1T bravely.
The result was entirely satisfactory to
the medical gentlemen present, and it
was agreed that the removal of the piec-
es of skull which had been depressing
and Irritating the brain had not 0aly al
leviated the patients suffering, but i'm
proved her chances of recovery. DIR.
Pancoast said to the Times reporter after
the operation:
'sWhile the case is still critical the OPP
Grafton has been attended with the happ1-
est results, and there is a possibility that
she may live many years. The removal
OF the bell is out of the question, but if
it is lodged permanently against the
bone or la the membrane it may become
encrusted, and Mary may live to be an old
woman unless the ball drops down, which
would cause almost instant death. She
will recover complete consciousness in q
short time. I applied the test which I
had seen tried at the Royal Hospital for
Epileptics and paralytics in London last
yeer by the eminent surgeons, Terrier
and Victor Horaley, of examining the
nerves of the fingers and lower limbs
that connect with the brain center to de-
termine whether there was paralysis of
the brain, and found there was not.''